lonely dog what should I do?

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I personally never felt the crating issue was so much of an issue per se, however the fact that she cannot go out to go to the bathroom and is getting UTI's is obviously a BIG issue. Just because she's sleeping doesn't mean she doesn't have to pee.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by BxrMommieNAZ

I personally never felt the crating issue was so much of an issue per se, however the fact that she cannot go out to go to the bathroom and is getting UTI's is obviously a BIG issue. Just because she's sleeping doesn't mean she doesn't have to pee.

She never had a UTI. I thought I posted a few times it was puppy vaganitis? I think I posted that in multiple threads, but I didn't know what puppy vaganitis was at that time.

You may not have said there was anything wrong with crating her, but if you go through this thread you'll read plenty of posts of people telling me that I should probably not have a dog, I'm not excerising my dog enough, not mentally challenging her enough or anything else you name.
Well after reading online that the average dog gets 12-14 hours, I didn't realize that the average puppy gets 16-18 hours, but after googling and reading it mulitple places, plus a web camera that tells me that my puppy is in fact sleeping most of the time just tells me people over reacted on the board and personally I think I did get some bad advise, because nobody indicated to me not to worry that your dog is sleeping the majority of the time your gone if not the entire time your gone. It's possible that people gave their opinion and simply did not know that puppies sleep this much, because to be honest even on weekends I don't pull out a stop watch and count how many hours Roxy sleeps, so I can see how people are not aware that puppies sleep up to 18 hours a day.

You recommended putting a water bottle on her crate and she sleeps in the crate and if I'm gone for less than 1 hour I put her in the crate. The attached water bottle was one of the greatest things for her and wish I would have had one sooner for her. As I explained before she never had a UTI or at least I'm unaware if she had one for sure, but I do think what you said about her having water all the time was great advise.

[BxrMommieNAZ]

[QUOTE=jboboxer;1266004]She never had a UTI. I thought I posted a few times it was puppy vaganitis? I think I posted that in multiple threads, but I didn't know what puppy vaganitis was at that time. QUOTE]

Sorry thought it was both. Yes you did, but I thought you said she also had a UTI in multiple threads.

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

She never had a UTI. I thought I posted a few times it was puppy vaganitis? I think I posted that in multiple threads, but I didn't know what puppy vaganitis was at that time.

You may not have said there was anything wrong with crating her, but if you go through this thread you'll read plenty of posts of people telling me that I should probably not have a dog, I'm not excerising my dog enough, not mentally challenging her enough or anything else you name.
Well after reading online that the average dog gets 12-14 hours, I didn't realize that the average puppy gets 16-18 hours, but after googling and reading it mulitple places, plus a web camera that tells me that my puppy is in fact sleeping most of the time just tells me people over reacted on the board and personally I think I did get some bad advise, because nobody indicated to me not to worry that your dog is sleeping the majority of the time your gone if not the entire time your gone. It's possible that people gave their opinion and simply did not know that puppies sleep this much, because to be honest even on weekends I don't pull out a stop watch and count how many hours Roxy sleeps, so I can see how people are not aware that puppies sleep up to 18 hours a day.

You recommended putting a water bottle on her crate and she sleeps in the crate and if I'm gone for less than 1 hour I put her in the crate. The attached water bottle was one of the greatest things for her and wish I would have had one sooner for her. As I explained before she never had a UTI or at least I'm unaware if she had one for sure, but I do think what you said about her having water all the time was great advise.

Yes puppies, like babies sleep a lot, however dogs/puppies will also sleep when bored so just keep that in mind too.

We all have lives, many have jobs, etc, it's about doing what you can do, nobody is superman/superwoman and I personally don't expect folks to upset their entire routine, lives, jobs, etc to accomodate a dog, however there are times when allowances have to be made but there are times when all we can do is the best we can do.

[djheitz]

I've been following your threads about Roxy and I have to say I don't think I have seen another new boxer parent ask as many questions and try so hard to get it right. I think once she's over her issues, you are going to end up with a dog that adores you! Thanks for making the effort ~ We see a lot of young dogs end up in rescue because their owners couldn't take the time to learn about the breed and do what needed to be done for the health and welfare (and happiness) of their dogs.

Keep asking questions and questioning the answers!

[jinkiesp]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I didn't realize that she slept that much, so I kind of regret being all worried about her being in the crate all day. Now that she has room to move around within 8 feet by 8 feet, she still prefers to sleep most of the time or needs to sleep most of the time.
If she is sleeping about 7 hours when we're sleeping, then if she sleeps another 11 hours I'm not sure if makes a difference if she's roaming around the house, in a dog pen or in her crate, because at most it's 1 or 2 hours.

There's been days I've seen that she is sleeping the entire time I'm not there. Maybe it's 7 hours at night when we're sleeping, then it seems she knows when I'm about to get there and after I leave she is up for a little while, which is about an hour probably in total.

I actually feel a lot less guilty about having her in her crate before and I think I actually over reacted, especially since now she has all the room she needs and I have a video camera to watch her as well.

There is nothing wrong with being overprotective. It just shows how much you care about Roxy. I am the same way about my Coco.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by BxrMommieNAZ

Yes puppies, like babies sleep a lot, however dogs/puppies will also sleep when bored so just keep that in mind too.

We all have lives, many have jobs, etc, it's about doing what you can do, nobody is superman/superwoman and I personally don't expect folks to upset their entire routine, lives, jobs, etc to accomodate a dog, however there are times when allowances have to be made but there are times when all we can do is the best we can do.

yeah, to be honest my vet isn't the greatest as I've been told a hundred times to leave my vet, which I know I'm not the brightest guy to keep going back to my same vet. But it's hard to get things out of my vet and I ask a hundred questions and he really couldn't tell me if it's a UTI or puppy vaginitis. I'm not sure if he just didn't know himself and thinks antibiotics clears everything up, because at first he said it was a UTI and then I explained about the yellow/green stuff and he siad it was puppy vaginitis and still prescribed antibiotics. So to be completely honest I'm not 100% sure if she did have a UTI at once or not.
She has the yellow/green stuff, which I've noticed it seems like there's less and less lately on her, but she is getting more water when I'm not home, thanks to your advise.
She never looks like she's in pain when she pees and always pees outside. So I really haven't seen any sign of a UTI, but maybe the antibiotics took care of it if she did have it at one time.

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

yeah, to be honest my vet isn't the greatest as I've been told a hundred times to leave my vet, which I know I'm not the brightest guy to keep going back to my same vet. But it's hard to get things out of my vet and I ask a hundred questions and he really couldn't tell me if it's a UTI or puppy vaginitis. I'm not sure if he just didn't know himself and thinks antibiotics clears everything up, because at first he said it was a UTI and then I explained about the yellow/green stuff and he siad it was puppy vaginitis and still prescribed antibiotics. So to be completely honest I'm not 100% sure if she did have a UTI at once or not.
She has the yellow/green stuff, which I've noticed it seems like there's less and less lately on her, but she is getting more water when I'm not home, thanks to your advise.
She never looks like she's in pain when she pees and always pees outside. So I really haven't seen any sign of a UTI, but maybe the antibiotics took care of it if she did have it at one time.

If your vet coudln't tell you, you NEED to find a new vet. They take a culture to determine if it's a UTI, they send it to a lab, bacteria, etc is present and they RX an antibiotic, there's no guessing involved on if it's a UTI or not as they have TESTS that confirm the diagnosis for it. You REALLY need to change vets in a big way, either he/she isn't the greatest or they don't communicate very well with you, neither of which is a good thing IMO.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by djheitz

I've been following your threads about Roxy and I have to say I don't think I have seen another new boxer parent ask as many questions and try so hard to get it right. I think once she's over her issues, you are going to end up with a dog that adores you! Thanks for making the effort ~ We see a lot of young dogs end up in rescue because their owners couldn't take the time to learn about the breed and do what needed to be done for the health and welfare (and happiness) of their dogs.

Keep asking questions and questioning the answers!

Oh I love Roxy a lot and she's the best dog I could have. I've never had a Boxer, but I really really love Boxers. I watch the show Dogs 101 all the time on animal planet and today it was on the boxer and a few other dogs. I mean the boxer is one of the best with children, protective, likes to play, easy to groom, very affectionate, smart dog....etc It's really the perfect breed for what I want in a dog.

For me they are the perfect dog and my wife wants to get another boxer eventually. She wants a white one, even though we know they tend to have problems with the sun (we live in Florida) and 20% of them are deaf.
We're going to take the advise though and wait until Roxy is 2 years old. It's not that we want just a friend for Roxy, but we really want another dog as well. We love having a dog and think in a year or two having another one would be great for our family.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by BxrMommieNAZ

If your vet coudln't tell you, you NEED to find a new vet. They take a culture to determine if it's a UTI, they send it to a lab, bacteria, etc is present and they RX an antibiotic, there's no guessing involved on if it's a UTI or not as they have TESTS that confirm the diagnosis for it. You REALLY need to change vets in a big way, either he/she isn't the greatest or they don't communicate very well with you, neither of which is a good thing IMO.

They took a sample, sent it out to the lab and said it was a UTI or they used another word to describe white blood cells to be honest. But you are completely right, he's horrible and telling me what's wrong or what the dog is taking or this or that. I'm not sure if he thinks dog owners are just ignorant and that he doesn't have to explain in great detail the problem, the cause and what needs to be done to correct the problem. Because the first day I took him there he gave her a bunch of shots and that was before I knew much about the different shots and when I asked him what the shots were he just mumbled bordetella and tried to change the subject or didn't want to go into detail about it.
It seems their record keeping is bad as well as I have to remind them of things constantly and I hate it that I have to ask questions, such as she hasn't had her rabbies shots yet and they have to look on papers and say your right......lets give it to her today. I disagreed and told them I'll give her the rabbies shots later, but it's upsetting that they don't have good record keeping or anything and that I have to remind them or what I believe she needs. I guess I would expect a Vet to know what she has had and hasn't had.

I agree completely with what you said about a dog sleeping a lot if they are also bored. Roxy sleeps 16-18 hours I'm sure, but when I took her to my parents house one weekend I swear she did not want to sleep at all, she wanted to play with my mom's american eskimo for hours and hours and hours. So I think if she had some interaction while we were gone she would probably not sleep so much. Now from the video I can't tell if her eyes are closed or not, so she could be resting with her eye open, maybe bored.

I have probably half a dozen toys with food treats in half of them, stuff for her to chew on for her teething and what have you and she does play with them, some more than others, but for the most part it's an hour maybe 2 and then it's back to sleeping and resting.

If my mom's american eskimo was in there I think she would be awake the entire time, because she gets so excited and enjoys playing with other dogs. My mother had to actually separate them and put them in other rooms, because Roxy was so tired and exhausted from playing that her tongue was about to fall off and we thought she was going to over heat. My mom's dog was actually trying to hide under tables and get away from Roxy, just because my mom's dog couldn't keep up with the play energy of Roxy.

[tinshee]

I'm a bit behind on this thread...

But I wanted to mention- my girl was VERY attached to me and had separation anxiety. I did lots of training, hired a walker, video taped her, etc... it wasn't until we did get another dog (though we got an adult rescue, not a puppy) that we saw a huge difference in her SA.

She recently passed, and while our other dog doesn't have SA, we can see a difference in his behavior (he's not misbehaving- just how he interacts with us) and plan to get a second dog. I have definitely seen a lot of benefits to having 2 together.

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Originally Posted by tinshee

I'm a bit behind on this thread...

But I wanted to mention- my girl was VERY attached to me and had separation anxiety. I did lots of training, hired a walker, video taped her, etc... it wasn't until we did get another dog (though we got an adult rescue, not a puppy) that we saw a huge difference in her SA.

She recently passed, and while our other dog doesn't have SA, we can see a difference in his behavior (he's not misbehaving- just how he interacts with us) and plan to get a second dog. I have definitely seen a lot of benefits to having 2 together.

I don't disagree with this, but you have to have the time for one before you can have time for two, which I think is the point most of us were trying to make on this thread.